Argues that people have very different views on what constitutes “quality” in higher education, but that current debate in universities about the declining unit of resource, the increased numbers of students, the structure of qualifications and academic audit and assessment, makes radical rethinking about policy for high quality teaching, learning and assessment a professional imperative for decision makers at all levels of provision. Suggests that the Warnock Report (1990) has valuable contributions to make for policy and practice, and sketches what they might be; but argues that the perception of “reality gap” between policy formulation and implementation is down to a lack of clear communication with those who matter most: the teachers and learners.